Firebird
by gorgeousastrolabe
Summary: Trellis must locate and save Emily, who has now been consumed by the Stone. Takes place after Amulet Book 7, and is my idea of what Book 8 should be like.
1. Chapter 1

Vigo had many questions for him.

Trellis didn't blame Vigo.

He was sitting in a chair on the _Luna Moth_ , a rough, scratchy towel wrapped around his shoulders. Despite the towel, he was still chilled to the bone from the freezing water that had threatened to submerge him once his bubble receded. He need to take a proper bath, but he knew Vigo has questions for him, since Vigo had watched three people go into the submarine to retrieve Trellis' memories, but only Trellis came back.

He was shivering. In the distance, the sun is rising, casting a gorgeous orange reflection across the sea. He watched the sun slowly creep its way up into the sky. Every time he blinked, he saw the firebird-Emily peering at him with it's blazing eyes. Just the thought of the phenomenal firebird made him shudder with anticipation and fear.

Vigo had listened to what Trellis had to say. Vigo's first thought had been that Gabilan had betrayed them, but Trellis told him that wasn't what happened at all. Vigo's eyebrows inched higher and higher up his forehead as Trellis relayed everything that happened: Gabilan's story, the entrance into his past memories, the blue portal, their time on Earth, and then finally watching Emily's car go over the side of the cliff, flipping and turning over and over as it fell, bending and breaking, glass shattering and metal screeching. Watching Emily half-run, half-slip through the snow as she tried to make her way to the car, her Stone's pinkish glow reflecting in her eyes. Trellis ran after her. She flipped the car right back up with her Stone, and then hugged the man who had been inside. Her father. Trellis followed as she tried to catch up with the man who had caused the crash, and Trellis had watched as the Stone gained control of Emily. He had watched the fire consume her.

Vigo could piece together what had happened after that. "Where do you think she went?" Trellis asked, a little breathless from the storytelling.

"Valcor," he had responded, almost immediately. "To see the stone."

Trellis swallowed. The idea of Emily, who had been so strong and firm, who had shone mercy and never once gave in to the Stone, now serving at its side, was revolting. For a second he imagine her, in her firebird form, spraying a river of fire from her beak onto an unsuspecting city, swooping overhead as the city turned into an inferno. It seemed horrible to think that the firebird and Emily were the same people.

"How..." He asked Vigo, in awe.

"How did she change like that?" He asked, filling in the blanks. Trellis nodded.

Vigo paused. "I'm not a hundred percent sure," he responded carefully. "Most stories I've heard of stonekeepers losing their control describes a humanoid figure. Even Luger had been in the form of an elf when he attacked. But a firebird...I've never heard of that before. Maybe it's reflective of her personality, or maybe it's the Stone's bidding."

Then he had walked away, murmuring under his breath about strategies and the resistance force. Trellis sit there for a little while, staring at the sun.

A piece of him felt missing. Emily had consumed the better part of Trellis' life these past few months, whether she had wanted to or not. It had started, of course, when his father ordered him to find her. Even when they weren't on the same side, Trellis was always nearby. He had relied on her, in a way. He had trusted her and her instincts to lead them. Even while thinking of the rebellion, he had always pictured her somewhere close by, using her Stone to fight or protecting innocent civilians. Now he wasn't sure what he should be even doing.

 _Get a grip, Trellis. Everything is going to be fine. We just need to get to her, somehow. Find her body. Save her._ He never thought that Emily needed saving, since she always did a wonderful job of saving him. But without her, they were as good as dead. (He had come to terms with himself over this fact a long time ago. But coming to terms with himself was different from admitting it aloud, so he never said anything.) They needed someone who had good, sound judgment and a quick mind, and Emily fit the part perfectly. (Vigo was too pessimistic and careful, and Trellis was still working on his mercy skills.)

But how could he save Emily? She was a firebird, for Levitas' sake, and was a servant of the shadows, whatever that meant. The Stone had full control over her, and besides, Trellis was terrified of big birds in general. Big bird + fire + mind control did not seem like a formula that he liked.

Did Emily even have a body outside of the firebird? He wasn't sure. He had heard the younger Emily mention it to him while he was in the Void, but Emily's body hadn't been in the Mind Palace at the bottom of the ocean. They both had their bodies when they entered the Void, so where would Emily's be? In Valcor, with the Stone? Or maybe she was still in control of it. He definitely didn't want to think about the second option.

He had pictured it like this: he would find Emily's body in Valcor, and together they would vanquish the Stone, once and for all. But the world had a funny sense of humor, and he knew that was probably not going to happen. However, the idea of getting close to a firebird, Emily or no Emily, was horrifying. And how would he even wake her up without burning himself first? It seemed impossible.

Trellis sighed. Their mission seemed a billion times harder now that they were a man down. His best option was to find Riva and the citizens of Lucien again, since when they had spoken, she sounded like she had a pretty good head on her shoulders. She had also said something about a space program, which Trellis hadn't understood until now. However, he believed it was for the greater good of Alledia, and that made it important.

He didn't want to leave Gabilan to his own devices. He definitely didn't want to leave Algos Island, in case Emily's body was here or something. A small part of him wanted to leave, and that part was thinking about all of Trellis' horrible childhood memories that he and Emily had relived together. It seemed strange to think about those memories as part of himself now, since his child self and his current self seemed like two different people entirely.

But he had to do it. He had to move on, for Emily's sake. He knew that she had flown miles and miles away, and that their best hope now was regrouping with the resistance and defeating the Elf King. But the Elf King was only a pawn, and slaying his father would do little. The real threat was something he didn't know of yet. The shadows? The Stone? He couldn't tell.

Trellis got up slowly, feeling his joints ache in protest. Holy Levitas, he really needed to take a bath. He forced himself to walk into the command room, where Vigo, Rico, Dagno, and Cogsley were peering at a map. Enzo was steering the _Luna Moth_. Luger was probably asleep.

"Oh, good, you're here," Cogsley said when he saw Trellis, acting like Trellis had been taking a nap for the past few hours instead of escaping an underground spaceship. Vigo looked at Trellis, silently asking for his input.

"We need to move on," Trellis said, quietly but firmly. "Waiting here for something to happen isn't going to do us any good. We need to join up with the resistance, and then we need to get Emily back."

Vigo nodded approvingly, and then began to discuss routes and traveling. Trellis listened for a few seconds, and then decided that he was no longer needed. He turned and walked out of the command room, rolling his stiff shoulders. He was going to wake up Luger, tell him everything, and then he was going to go take a bath.


	2. Chapter 2

After a refreshing bath, Trellis dressed and then decided to meet up with the others in the command room. Luger hadn't been in his room, but when Trellis walked by the kitchen, he heard him encouraging Enzo to put some more pepper on the scrambled eggs that they were making together. That was a good sign. Trellis liked pepper on his eggs. He was also happy that Luger was okay. He had been worried about his brother, since they had both relied on Emily as their fearless leader ever since they joined the Luna Moth. When he had told Luger, his brother had listened intently, and then gazed out the window, thinking. After a few minutes, he responded. "Do you think that Emily is truly lost?" Trellis shook his head. He was a bit amazed at his brother. Even now, he still had words of advice for him. "Then we aren't hopeless," he said, gentle but firm. "Cutting off a head of a hydra won't kill the beast. We just have to do our best to get that head back." Trellis had no idea what a hydra was, but Luger sounded so inspirational that he decided not to ask. When he arrived in the command room, Vigo was still peering over a map of Alledia. He glanced up when he saw Trellis. "We have decided on Frontera," he said in his way of greeting. Trellis' eyebrows furrowed. "What?" "Riva wanted to meet up in Frontera, correct? Then that's where we will go. We need the soldiers on our side." "But Emily is going to Valcor! You know this, Vigo. Shouldn't we go get her first?" Vigo sighed. "I want to bring her back, Trellis. But she said it herself. She needs her family and her body back, and her family is with the resistance team in Frontera _and_ with the numbers we have a better chance of capturing her. Valcor seems like a good idea, but by the time we get there she will already be gone. And we aren't ready to face off with the Stone just yet." Trellis tried not to roll his eyes. "But Vigo, Frontera was leveled a long time ago! There is nothing left for us there!" "Except Riva," Vigo said gruffly. "And you said it yourself." "Yeah, I did say it, but we're talking about someone who has been the mayor of an underground city. An _underground city_ , Vigo. It wouldn't surprise me if she wasn't out of her mind." Vigo shot him a sharp look. "We're going to Frontera, Trellis. Emily would agree with me if she were here." Trellis tried not to wince as he remembered for the billionth time today that he hadn't been able to save Emily. That was below the belt (only slightly though, because Emily had said more savage things than that before) and Vigo knew it. "Fine," he grumbled, "so we go to Frontera. What then?" "Then, we find soldiers and we capture Emily." Trellis' mouth opened. A billion things came to his mind. _Who would want to go up against a firebird? Not them. Wasn't this not their problem? Probably. And, oh yeah, what could foot soldiers do against a freaking firebird with wings who could fly above them and incinerate them?_ He kept these things on the tip of his tongue and held them there. Then he shut his mouth. It was useless to argue against Vigo. Because not only would Emily agree with Vigo, but Vigo was also right. But of course he didn't tell Vigo that. Trellis still had some pride left. So he did the first thing that came to mind, which was to scowl and walk away. Which was what he did, although he made sure that he wasn't too aggressive with his scowl. He definitely didn't want to anger Vigo. So he walked to the kitchen. So much for getting to Valcor. A small portion of him felt a little sad that they wouldn't be traveling to his old home, although he wasn't really sure if it was his home anymore. It didn't feel like it. His childhood memories told him so. Speaking of childhood memories, he still had no idea what that memory cube thingy Gabilan gave him did, or what he was supposed to do with it. As far as he knew, there wasn't a nexus or a cortex or anything along those lines anywhere else in Alledia besides underneath Algos Island. And who had those memories been for? Trellis had already seen his own terrible haircut and childhood, but he didn't think Luger wanted to know what horrible things their father had been up to when they were still children. Someone else? Emily? No. Emily remembered her childhood. If not Emily, then who? He sighed, then glanced to his right. One of the nice things about living on an airship was that he almost always got fresh air and a good view. Today was no different. He stared at the slowly approaching shore, the wind whipping through his hair, his eyes squinting against the sunlight. He figured that in a matter of hours they would be above land again. Trellis closed his eyes. He thought about Emily. Again. His mind automatically flashed to the breathtaking firebird. She had been beautiful and terrifying at the same time, and it had made him want to stare at her forever or run away screaming. Just thinking about her made his skin tingle and his heartbeat became prominent. He let out a soft sigh, and opened his eyes. Maybe, if he was lucky, Emily hadn't already gone off on a rampage and destroyed about half of Alledia already. Maybe, if he was lucky, she was in Valcor, listening to the Stone as it droned on and on about how it wanted to see Alledia ravaged and scorched. Maybe she was somewhere inside the firebird, trying to gain control. He hoped that by the time he figured out how to cure Emily there was still something left of her. Maybe by the time he found out how to help her, she had already been burned out, and had become an empty, lifeless husk of her former self- _Whoa Trellis_ , said the internal voice inside of his head, _Think happy thoughts. Think about...something happy, I guess._ Trellis didn't know what made him happy anymore, but he tried anyway. He decided to think about taking care of Luger when this was all over. It wasn't exactly happy, but it made him feel a lot better than he did before. After about thirty seconds of thought, he cleared his head. _Got to keep your cool, Trellis. Emily is going to be fine. She always is. And we'll worry about her when the time comes, okay?_ He decided to agree with the voice, and then turned away from the rising sun. His stomach growled, and he remembered that the last time he had eaten had been a super small, quick meal before he got onto the submarine, and that had been several hours ago. He smiled one of his small smiles that only lasted for about a millisecond, and then decided to go find Luger and eat breakfast with him. **Probably should have mentioned this before, but this does contain some Tremily in it because I ship it like FedEx. Not much, but definitely some fluff. And thank you for the reviews so far, since I totally thought up of this on the fly.** **-Lilith**


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